Over the last two decades, a record number of people obtained a degree or workforce credential in the United States and yet, the number of open positions (9.6 million) has surpassed the number of unemployed workers (5.8 million). The jobs are there—and to some degree—the people are there, but the skills required to succeed in these jobs are often missing. Seventy-eight percent of hiring managers across industries report a skills gap.
It’s clear that the demands of today’s economy require a strategic alignment between classroom and career that better supports students in their transition to the workforce. It’s also clear that workers must become lifelong learners to reskill or upskill for higher-level positions that can support their advancement in their careers.
For the past nine years, the U.S. Chamber Foundation has sought to tackle the all-too-common challenge of successfully preparing talent for the work of today and tomorrow and ensure their skills align to employers’ needs. To achieve the type of behavior and systems change needed, we believed the approach had to be a significant departure from traditional workforce development efforts.
Talent Pipeline Management® (TPM) was developed to advance authentic employer leadership in building high-performing talent pipelines. Built by business, for business, TPM provides employers and their education and workforce development partners with strategies and tools to co-design talent supply chains. The end goal is consistent no matter the industry or community: connect learners and workers to jobs and career advancement opportunities.
Whether expanding talent pipelines to fill open jobs in the energy industry or creating new talent financing options to advance certified nursing assistants into higher-level nurses, TPM partners across the country have demonstrated that employer leadership is essential to improving outcomes for students, workers, employers, and education and training providers.
TPM has been called a game-changer, and now we are pleased to be recognized for our innovative leadership in workforce solutions by the Brandon Hall Group as part of their Human Capital Management Excellence Awards. TPM won four learning and development awards including:
- GOLD for Best Advance in Creating an Extended Enterprise Learning Program
- GOLD for Best Unique or Innovative Learning Program
- GOLD for Best Use of Blended Learning
- SILVER for Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy
As the standard in learning and talent recognition, the Excellence Awards have honored the best-of-the-best in the world of human capital management for more than 30 years.
The success of TPM to date is due in great part to our TPM practitioners who learn the framework, implement it in their communities, and are gracious enough to share their experiences so that the U.S. Chamber Foundation can continue to refine the resources and tools offered to the growing network. They continue to learn alongside us as we test out new applications of TPM, such as how TPM efforts can support underserved communities or improve job quality. What started out as a network of seven regional organizations piloting strategies in 2015, has now grown to more than 900 TPM Academy graduates. And we are just getting started.
For more information about the award-winning TPM framework, visit tpmacademy.org.
About the authors
Jaimie Francis
Jaimie is vice president of policy and programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
